Lyra'S POV
The faint yet heavy scent of red roses reached me before I even entered the dining hall. It drifted through the corridor, thick enough to make my throat itch and my wolf recoil. She whimpered softly inside me.
He did it again. After two years of marriage, Alpha Thorne still hadn’t remembered that my wolf couldn’t stand roses. The pollen made her sneeze uncontrollably, and the fragrance only unsettled her more. But, of course, Lilith adored them.
I swallowed the lump forming in my throat and pushed open the grand oak door leading to the pack house’s dining room. Inside, the table was prepared — steak, greens, a bottle of red wine — and right in the middle sat a bouquet of red roses, half-wilted, their petals already drooping like they’d given up.
Thorne looked up with a wide grin, unaware as always. “There you are,” he said warmly, rising from his seat with something hidden behind his back. “Happy second anniversary, Lyra.”
He extended a single rose toward me — its stem bent, its bloom sagging. I stared at it, feeling my wolf’s irritation rise like heat under my skin.
“Do you remember our first dinner after the wedding?” he asked, eyes soft with nostalgia. “I gave you these. You liked them, didn’t you?”
Wordlessly, I took the flower. The moment my fingers brushed against the pollen, my wolf growled inside me. I kept my face composed.
“It was Lilith who liked them,” I murmured. “I’m allergic.”
He blinked, confused for a second, before laughing it off. “Ah, right. My mistake,” he said, settling back in his chair as if it were nothing.
A wave of nausea rolled through me, but I pushed it aside. I reminded myself why I was here. I pulled an envelope from my coat pocket — the one I had spent three weeks preparing. The elder said Thorne had to sign it himself before I could officially surrender the Luna title and dissolve the bond under pack law.
I laid it beside his plate. “Sign this.”
He glanced at it, one brow lifting. “Is this another report about the Crimson Hollow Pack border issue?”
Before I could answer, the door opened behind me. The air shifted instantly. A soft, familiar laugh floated in — Lilith’s. She entered with the confidence of someone who belonged, her hair cascading in loose waves, her dress clinging perfectly to her figure. She smiled at Thorne. “Am I interrupting?”
“Of course not,” Thorne replied immediately, his face lighting up in a way it never did for me. He stood at once, abandoning the envelope, and went to her side. “Come sit. We were just about to eat.”
He pulled out my chair for her, guiding her like she was a queen. I said nothing as he fussed over her — cutting her steak, pouring her wine — while the rose he’d given me lay forgotten on the table, shedding its pollen into the air. My wolf’s irritation grew, and I sneezed sharply. Neither of them noticed.
“I heard the patrols have been tracing rogue scents again,” Lilith said casually as she dabbed her lips with a napkin. “Maybe we can check the borders together after this?”
Thorne nodded eagerly. “That’s a great idea. We’ll go after lunch.”
I watched them, the heat in my chest burning — not out of jealousy, but humiliation. He hadn’t even touched the envelope.
When they finished eating, he finally reached for it. Without even reading the title — Formal Resignation of Luna Duties and Dissolution of Marriage — he scribbled his signature across the bottom.
“There,” he said absently, his gaze already returning to Lilith. “Done.”
He didn’t ask what it was. He didn’t look at me.
I sat still as they walked out together, his hand resting on the small of her back, their laughter echoing through the hall long after they were gone.
When the door shut behind them, I released a slow breath and closed my eyes. He hadn’t cared at all.
I once loved him — deeply, foolishly. I had married him despite knowing we weren’t fated, thinking my devotion would be enough. I’d taken the Luna title to preserve peace between our packs, to avoid scandal after Lilith had run off with her destined mate. I thought that if I stayed long enough, if I worked hard enough, he might love me back.
But now, the truth was clear — I had only ever been a replacement.
Even after my real lineage was revealed — that I, not Lilith, was the legitimate daughter of the Ravencourt Pack Luna — my family still chose to protect her reputation. She remained the adored one, the flawless one, while I became the embarrassing reminder of a mistake. They treated me like the shameful secret, when in truth, she was the one born out of our father’s betrayal.
When she returned, they let her slip back into Thorne’s life like nothing had changed. I never found out what happened to her fated mates — one day, she was simply back, reclaiming everything I had.
Thorne didn’t even bother hiding it anymore. He stopped coming home, started whispering with her in corners. One night, I overheard him tell her softly, thinking I was asleep, “I never loved Lyra. She was just someone to fill the space you left.”
That was the moment I stopped hoping.
I pulled out my phone and dialed a number I hadn’t used in two years. After two rings, a familiar, low voice answered.
“…Lyra?”
“Alpha,” I said evenly. “Come get me out of Moonveil Pack. I’ll be ready once the elder confirms it’s finalized.”
My eyes fell on the envelope at the center of the table, Thorne’s careless signature smeared slightly with grease.
“Happy anniversary, Alpha,” I whispered, my voice cold.
